Cleaning up off flavors, a novel idea.

[mwsenoj]

Off flavors find their way into beer for a number of reasons, so this idea will not apply to all botched beers, but I am thinking it might be worth a shot. Some off flavors in beer are caused because the yeast have not had the best opportunity to clean up intermediary fermentation compounds, maybe it was too cold or hot of a fermentation, or there was not great enough of a starting cell count or unhealthy yeast, etc, etc. So, would adding in some new fermentables and new yeast be a *possible* way of cleaning up and salvaging a bad beer? (I dont have any research to back this up, the idea just came to me while I was procrastinating. I am expecting to hear back responses like, "no way man, read such and such" or "sorry, but no...noob" haha, but it is worth a shot)

 

[paperairplane]

If your beer is already estery and phenolic, adding more sugar and more yeast is not going to fix it.

Control ferm temps in the first place. Easiest way to fix flaws is not to introduce them in the first place.

 

[mwsenoj]

Yes, of course fixing problems in the first place would be better, but I am talking about the situation where it is too late and your problems aren't heavy alcohols from a warm initial ferment or some other unfixable. But maybe the idea is completely useless.

 

[paperairplane]

More yeast and sugar is not going to fix it. Time may help, but probably not. If you have a big phenol or ester problem from hot fermentation, it's may improve - but it won't go away.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Adding some additional malt and yeast will help certain off-flavors, but not all. As has already been indicated above, excessive esters, phenols, and fusels won't be helped. Sometimes those will age out, sometimes they won't. Now, if you have something like diacetyl or acetaldehyde, then yes, a some extra fermentables and yeast may do the trick. If I recall correctly, it's actually one (of many) reasons why kräusening is done in Germany.

 

[kanzimonson]

Basically, this idea will partly work if your problems are diacetyl or acetaldehyde. But there's only so much you can clean up. If the beer was pitched too warm, the yeast may produce a huge amount of these compounds and it's more than they can reabsorb.

Brett would probably handle it if you have the time.

 

[madscientist451]

Interesting and worth experimenting with. At some point, the time and money spent on trying to fix a bad batch just isn't worth it. So you have to evaluate what your chances of fixing it versus just brewing a new batch.

 

[kanzimonson]

Interesting and worth experimenting with. At some point, the time and money spent on trying to fix a bad batch just isn't worth it. So you have to evaluate what your chances of fixing it versus just brewing a new batch.

Totally agree - homebrewing is relatively cheap, so why drink something you're not happy with? I have a Bminus lager on right now that I'm thinking about dumping.

 

[Xpertskir]

If your beer is already estery and phenolic, adding more sugar and more yeast is not going to fix it.

Control ferm temps in the first place. Easiest way to fix flaws is not to introduce them in the first place.

This...spend your time focused on making beer right the first time instead of fixing beer.

Brewing is a lot like baking you can't fix much after the fact.